COPD VA Rating
Veterans may receive a VA rating for service-connected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, at 10%, 30%, 60% or 100%. The COPD VA rating depends on the severity of your symptoms, including your forced expiratory volume and forced vital capacity. Since COPD is a progressive disease, your symptoms can worsen over time. Veterans Guide has an overview of disability benefits for COPD, including its relation to burn pit exposure and how to establish a nexus link between your service and the development of COPD.
- Veterans with COPD may qualify for VA disability benefits if they can link their condition to military service, especially due to burn pit exposure.
- The VA rates COPD based on the severity of respiratory impairment, with disability ratings as 10%, 30%, 60%, and 100% depending on forced expiratory volume and other criteria.
- Veterans can also receive compensation for COPD as a secondary condition related to other primary service-connected disabilities.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a potentially debilitating respiratory condition that can make daily life a struggle for veterans. If you had toxic particle exposure during your time in service, it might be the cause of your COPD. Establishing a link between your COPD and military service is a vital first step in gaining VA disability benefits.
How Does the VA Rate COPD?
The VA has a disability rating system for respiratory illnesses. The more severe your respiratory illness, the higher your disability rating. If you smoke, you are likely to be denied the COPD disability rating. However, it is always a good idea to talk to an advocate like someone at Veterans Guide to make sure.
To rate your COPD, the VA looks at your ability to exhale. It also looks at your maximum exercise capacity. Other factors, such as whether you need oxygen therapy or have periods of respiratory failure, also come into play. One measurement of exercise capacity is the 6-minute walk test for COPD.
VA Rating Schedule for COPD
The VA rates COPD disability under the respiratory system schedule at 38 xCFR § 4.97. Among the criteria the VA looks at are:
- Forced vital capacity, or FVC: This is the air you can forcibly exhale after fully inhaling.
- Forced expiratory volume, or FEV-1: This is the air you can forcibly exhale in 1 second.
The VA disability ratings that use these measurements are:
- 100 percent: FEV-1 less than 40 percent or FEV/FVC ratio less than 40 percent
- 60 percent: FEV-1 40 to 55 percent or FEV/FVC ratio 40 to 55 percent
- 30 percent: FEV-1 56 to 70 percent or FEV/FVC ratio 56 to 70 percent
- 10 percent: FEV-1 71 to 80 percent or FEV/FVC ratio 71 to 80 percent
You can also get a disability rating based on other factors, including:
- Diffusion Capacity of the Lung for Carbon Monoxide by the Single Breath Method, or DLCO, which measures the lungs’ ability to transfer inhaled air to red blood cells.
- Maximum exercise capacity
- Right heart failure
- Right ventricular hypertrophy
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Episode of acute respiratory failure
- Requirement of outpatient oxygen therapy
How To Obtain VA Disability Compensation for COPD
You can file for VA disability compensation for COPD in person at a VA office, by mail, or online. The general steps are as follows:
- Step 1: Check your eligibility on the VA website.
- Step 2: Gather your documentation, including VA medical records, private medical records, and statements from family members or friends about your COPD.
- Step 3: Fill out the VA disability claim form.
If you need assistance with this process, contact Veterans Guide. We’re here to help service members like you get the benefits you deserve.
COPD as a Secondary Disability
You can also get COPD secondary to another condition. If you can show there is a connection between your secondary COPD and your military service, you might be able to get VA disability for these secondary conditions as well. Some conditions secondary to COPD include:
- Sleep apnea
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Lung cancer
You must present medical evidence and documentation showing how the primary condition worsens or directly contributes to the development or aggravation of your COPD.
What is COPD?
COPD is a progressive disease of the respiratory system. Progressive diseases typically worsen over time. COPD can make it hard to breathe as the condition restricts the amount of air moving in and out of your airways.
COPD refers to having one or both of the following conditions:
- Chronic bronchitis: This condition involves ongoing or repeated irritation and inflammation in the airways. This can cause the development of a substance called mucus in your respiratory tract. The mucus can be very thick and impair your breathing.
- Emphysema: With this condition, the walls between the air sacs in your lungs lose their elasticity. Without emphysema, the air sacs inflate and deflate as you breathe in and out. With emphysema, the loss of elasticity means it can be harder to expel air out of your lungs.
In the United States, most people with COPD have both emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Over time, COPD can be a significant cause of disability as you might be unable to do tasks associated with daily living.
Symptoms of COPD
COPD can cause several symptoms. In the early and middle stages of the disease, you might notice respiratory symptoms such as:
- Ongoing coughing with lots of mucus, colloquially called smoker’s cough
- Shortness of breath, in particular with exercise or activity
- Wheezing or whistling when you breathe
- A tight or heavy feeling in the chest
The phlegm-filled, continual cough is typically the first sign of COPD. As the disease reaches the severe stage, you might also experience:
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite
- Loss of muscle mass
- Weight loss
- Anxiety
- Depression
Living with COPD might mean you have shortness of breath when you’re doing basic household chores or trying to move about in your life, such as climbing stairs.
How Does Military Service Cause COPD?
Service members and veterans might develop COPD after time in the military. The most common cause for service members is breathing in airborne toxins such as Agent Orange. A primary cause of COPD is breathing in pollutants in the air over a long period.
COPD Due to Burn Pit Exposure
Veterans exposed to burn pits while in service have a higher risk of developing COPD. In fact, according to the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs presumes your military service caused your COPD if you had burn pit exposure.
The VA also presumes you had burn pit exposure if you served in certain locations at specific times. Examples of presumption of burn pit exposures are people who served:
- On or after September 11, 2001, in Afghanistan, Egypt, or Jordan, among others
- On or after August 2, 1990, Bahrain, Iraq, or Kuwait, among others
In addition to military service, there are other risk factors for developing COPD:
- Long-term exposure to chemical fumes and dust
- Cigarette smoking
- Living with HIV or tuberculosis
- Living with asthma
- Certain genetic conditions
- Over age 40
Therefore, veterans might have COPD from military service, such as burn pit exposure, but also live with a risk factor such as a genetic condition, asthma, or HIV.
How To Establish a Service-Related Connection to COPD
To receive VA disability benefits for COPD, you must establish with medical evidence that your current condition causing your disability is the result of an event in your military service. If you served in any of the locations during the periods outlined in the PACT Act, the VA presumes you were exposed to burn pits, and that exposure caused your COPD
If the nexus between your military service and your COPD is not presumptive, you might still be able to obtain COPD VA disability benefits. You need medical evidence and service records proving you were at an event or in an environment during your service that caused your COPD.
The VA should have your service records, but you should confirm they have the details about the events and environment in question. A diagnosis from a medical professional documenting your COPD is also critical. This professional must provide a nexus letter that confirms your COPD was the direct result of your time in service.
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